Allie Wenskoski, Sophomore
Almost one month has gone by since school has been let out. It’s been 600 hours, but somehow after hour 24, I was already bored. Everything has changed. There is an apocalyptic atmosphere around this entire country where everyone seems to just be sitting. Waiting. It is as if the beginning of 2020 was ramping up and up with momentum so powerful that in March everything just came to a blinding halt.
I have been to the grocery store. I have seen the empty shelves and lines for the checkout to be so long. People are stocking up on goods like this is the end of the world. And of course for some, it is.
I have seen the news. The blaring alerts on my phone. The President and Vice President speaking about the virus. Everywhere I look I am reminded of it. There is no school, no work, and my parents are working from home. The outside is so still with no movement. Towns and areas with usually a lot of people have none. Everyone is waiting to see what comes next.
Each day the cases of the virus go up. Each day so does the death toll. Colleges are kicking students out and continuing online. There are jokes and memes about the coronavirus, but there are plenty of people taking it seriously too.
The sports world has shut down. First it was NCAA announcing there would be no March Madness, and then the NBA followed by suspending their season indefinitely. MLB was next, postponing their season two weeks and then announcing that the postponement would last until mid-May. The NHL paused their season with their Commissioner saying that games will resume “as soon as it is appropriate and prudent.” Golf fans were disappointed when the 2020 Majors was postponed, and the Kentucky Derby was postponed until September. Additionally, almost all other sports were stopped too, including all high school sports.
There seems to be nothing to do. The nation has declared a National Emergency, curfews were set, and businesses are closed or doing takeout only. Everyone is sheltered in their house trying to avoid getting sick.
Panic may be accentuated, but there is good reason. When thinking about the situation, there are so many struggling small businesses that may go out of business. A couple weeks ago, the DOW fell 900 points to end Wall Street’s worst week since 2008. More than 367,776 people in the United States have the virus, and this has caused over 10,980 deaths. This number is only rising due to more and more people getting tested. Additionally, there are thousands, if not millions, of people out of work that are worried about their finances and if they can even feed their families.
So, even though COVID-19 may not have the worst outcome for you or I, there are so many people who we could pass it to that could have disastrous effects. The elderly and those with preexisting conditions have the highest risk of getting seriously ill, but this doesn’t mean that teenagers and young adults cannot become sick or be carriers. So like you’ve probably heard a thousand times this week, wash your hands and stay at home. We’ll get through this.
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